Royal Dutch Airlines, KLM, has announced plans to upgrade its Economy Class service aboard intercontinental flights.

In the new schedule, at the start of an intercontinental flight, Economy Class passengers will receive a bottle of water, a refreshing towel and earphones, which means they can immediately get set for their journey. After this welcome service, passengers will be offered an extended choice of meals on flights out of Amsterdam.

On intercontinental daytime flights out of Amsterdam, the new meal service will include a choice of warm dishes, a large, well-filled salad, and a dessert. On medium-range and longer intercontinental flights the selection of snacks will be further extended with ice-creams, sweets and savoury snacks. Passengers will also be welcome to collect these snacks in the galley.

The new service will be introduced on the following nine destinations on 1 July 2018: Bonaire (via Aruba), Entebbe (via Kigali), Fortaleza, Osaka, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro and Houston.

From the start of our winter schedule on 28 October, the service will be available on all our intercontinental flights. The flights are subdivided into daytime and night-time flights, but also into three different distance zones, namely: short-range intercontinental flights; medium-range intercontinental flights and long-range intercontinental flights.

The overall service will be adjusted per zone, so that it best coincides with the biorhythms of passengers. Passengers will, as always, be served a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages aboard every flight.

The airline, in a statement, said: “The new collective labour agreement for our cabin crew includes a clause that one less crewmember will be assigned on many intercontinental flights. Consequently, a more efficient Economy Class service is required.

“By better utilising the space on meal trays, trolleys can be stocked with more trays, ensuring that passengers are served more quickly. The new service is also more in line with passengers’ wishes, in that the amount of food and drinks served remains the same, while the quality of the service improves.